Yuan, who lives at Changsha in south-central Hunan province, made headlines last month after all the 17 women he dated reached hospital to meet him following a road accident, the report cited news portal Rednet.cn.

The women were stunned to find out they were going out with the same man.

After discovering that they were associated with the same man, they set up an online chat group called ‘revenge alliance’, where they shared details of their relationship with Yuan and discovered that he would ask some of his girlfriends for money, sometimes large sums, every month.

After learning of Yuan’s arrest, the women changed their chat group’s name to ‘angels’, saying they would now move on with their lives.